5 Things That Will Make Or Break Brad Goreski’s New Show

It’s A Brad, Brad World, Brad Goreski’s new show about his travails working as a solo stylist, premiered last night on Bravo. The network is already home to the very successful show The Rachel Zoe Project, which is based on the styling career of Goreski’s former boss and was responsible for his own ascent to fame. His new show understandably has a lot to live up to, and we found five things that could make or break its first season on the air.

1. Brad’s Personal Life

I would watch this show every week to just to see more of Brad’s home in Los Angeles, which he shares with his boyfriend Gary Janetti. It’s so open! So much natural light! So much beautiful cabinetry! Gary and Brad have been together for ten years (they met in Mykonos, and it is so fun to imagine how that went down) and are adorably domestic. Or, to put it another way, they are “almost lesbians”, according to Brad. They eat snacks on the couch in their pajamas after Hollywood parties, they talk constantly to each other without listening, they check their dog Penelope for fleas. They also have a another very cute dog named Jasper, who apparently wants to be carried everywhere. I love these dogs — although I could be biased, given that I’m also the parent of a dog named Jasper. My only reservation here is that the show seems to be trying to set up a “Will Brad’s styling career come between him and his boyfriend?” arc, and their relationship seems so strong that it just rings false.

2. Is He Or Isn’t He?

Since leaving Rachel Zoe, Brad is working out of his garage and, horror of horrors, he doesn’t have a personal assistant! Diane Lane doesn’t want to hire him! He’s basically back at square one! Except… Jessica Alba is a client of his. His only client, but still. And he gets a call to style Keri Hilson for the “mother fucking Met Ball.” And he gets to go to an US Weekly “Hot in Hollywood” party. Based on the premiere, the show seems to be trying to make Brad appear established and struggling at same time. It’s very odd to see him having trouble getting clients, but having no issues getting amazing clothes in which to dress them. One is not a struggling stylist if one can fly in a tailor from Italy to alter Keri Hilson’s gown the day before the Met Ball, Bravo.

3. Is Brad Too One-Note?

The Versace dress he put Keri Hilson in was spectacular, and he wouldn’t be styling Jessica Alba if he didn’t have serious chops. However. In the premiere episode he styles and models in a shoot for Paper magazine (you know, like all struggling stylists) that features a gaggle of male models dressed exactly like Brad. It would have been a smarter choice for the show if he did menswear that didn’t turn the models into carbon copies of himself, simply because we’re already so familiar with his aesthetic and it would be more exciting to see him do something different. This was the most boring part of the episode for me, even though it featured Brad in a head-to-toe leopard print suit.

4. The Rachel Zoe-Shaped Elephant In The Room

Brad acknowledges the falling out between himself and his former boss in the premiere episode, and then refuses to say anything more on the subject. But… but… come on! Give us something! My love for Zoe is deep and abiding, but even I am suspicious that Brad might not be the villain she portrayed him as on her own show. Being vague and weird about it just fuels the controversy. Also, it’s not like he murdered anybody! We can handle a few more details about the conflict — just talk about it briefly and then we will all stop asking, I promise. Or at least I will.

5. Brad Himself

It’s a Brad, Brad World might still be figuring out what its greatest ambition is, but to its credit, the show knows that its biggest asset is its eponymous star. He has a great relationship with his boyfriend, he makes jokes about being Canadian, he squeals over how pretty his female clients are, he cries (not in this episode, but it looks like we can look forward to a lot of tears this season), and he attends aerobics classes for women (or so it appears). In the words of the man himself, referring to all the time he spends under girls’ skirts as a stylist, “I’m the envy of the majority of the straight world… but I feel nothing.” Brad is the show, and if he comes off as well this season as he did in this premiere I think it will be successful indeed.